|
The imperative to learn: Nepal today
|
In the field of development, and more recently,
humanitarian aid, the belief that activity is by definition necessarily
positive is no longer commonly held. This is not yet fully recognised
in the area of human rights. Despite the explosion of UN human rights
field activity since the early 1990s, none of its key components
fielding human rights field operations has effective mechanisms to
ensure they learn from experience.
The IHRN paper Nepal: Learning from UN Human Rights Fieldwork
draws together analysis of international human rights field presences
through the voices of five societies afflicted by armed conflict: El
Salvador, Guatemala, Rwanda, Burundi and Colombia. It outlines their
perceptions of the UN human rights operations they have hosted. The
five country case studies illustrate that seemingly disparate conflict
situations (and the human rights issues such conflicts raise) have more
in common than divides them.
Parallels that suggest themselves with Nepal include:
-
Multiple underlying causes of the conflicts
-
Gross violations/abuses committed by both sides in a climate of impunity,
-
A range of voices not directly involved in the conflict who have a stake in any solutions
-
The proposal for a human rights agreement pre-ceasefire
-
The dangers of militarisation of the wider population through village defence committees
-
A civil society mostly active in the capital
-
Widespread social-economic and political exclusion through discrimination (caste, social division, gender)
-
A population with low expectations regarding respect for their human rights; and
as was the case with Haiti, the suggestion that
In 2005, the latest internaitonal human rights
mission is being extablished in Nepal. Yet, what has been the impact of
the current approach over the last decade. What were the achievements
and why, how can these be adapted and replicated; what are the
failures, and how can we ensure they are not repeated.
The paper argues that accountability for its human
rights impact is a legal imperative for the UN, as well as being
essential for the effectiveness and sustainability of the efforts
involved. Crucial elements include a system of meaningful participation
of the host society in the design, implementation and evaluation of UN
human rights fieldwork. The challenge is to identify, modify as
appropriate, and act on such lessons so that Nepali efforts are
reinforced, and not replaced.
|
|
|